Perhaps when Bob Marley sung 'Emancipate yourself from mental slavery' he had Barack Obama in mind. For several years Jamaica and Caribbean islands alike have been complaining about the terrible impact slavery and colonialism has had on us as a people.
The truth is that while several of us as black people with deep roots going way back to West Africa have been very successful in our different spheres of life - we have continued to be a marginalised people. Victims of our own situations and foolish beliefs. We talk about several renowned and well noted Professors, Nobel laureates, business men and women and now Barack Obama. But while this is commendable the majority of us continued to accept the status quo and failed to break the chains of bondage.
Honestly, when I first learned of the US Presidential Elections - it was when Barack and Hilary were contesting in the Primaries. While I am no political analyst on American politics or culture even, I thought Hilary would have been a better candidate and her opponent (at the time) was too audacious to think he can govern a white people country. Like many others, I was judging Hilary because of her colour and the performance of her husband Bill Clinton as President. And at the same time was keeping Barack safe. Perhaps perceived assassination.
Evidently, I am still within the confines of the oppressions we continue to suffer from as a people. I thought little of Bob Marley or even Martin Luther King. I can just imagine the bright smile on the faces of Martin, Rosa Parks and many others who suffered because of colour and their socio-economic statuses.
I must congratulate Barack on his historic win and crowing as the 44th President of America. I laud and appreciate his efforts in challenging the status quo. What is even more commendable is his choice of timing. His mere contesting the elections is evidence of the change which we are about to experience. I dedicate this historic victory to the end of BLACK OPPRESSION. YES WE CAN! It's the change we can believe in. B.O - Barack Obama, his initials quite noteworthy in my view.
What is more important is the significance of this victory for the world. Perhaps, this American elections got more support and viewers that even the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. And that's quite understandable.
One of my students said to me last night "2008 is a great year." I can do nothing but agree with her. Obama's historic victory is the beginning of a new world. It is a time in which we must celebrate as a people and recognise our strengths and abilities. Obama started his campaign from nowhere. With mere vision and determination he launched an internet campaign which generated thousands of support to defeat Hilary and now John McCain.
I am sure there must have been other black people in America who were equally or perhaps more qualified that could have been President of America. But none challenged the status quo. No one was ready - not even the world was ready. Colin Powell - a Jamaican said it. He was not ready.
Obama's challenge and victory is important because it says to us as people who have contributed so much to the development of several first world developed countries of the Global North - it is time. It is time to stand up for what you truly are. It is not just an end to racism or other colour-class conflicts but an end to acceptance of status quo.
It is a motivation to people who have been living in the spotlight of other great men and women to step out and stand up for what you believe in. Challenge yourself and become someone great. I challenge us all to become a part of a great change around the world. Follow Obama, be fearless and you can achieve.
You want to become a doctor you can - yes you can. Change is even more evident in 2008. It started with women becoming Presidents of their countries. Portia Simpson-Miller a woman of the grassroots becoming Prime Minister of Jamaica. A Jamaican born woman becoming chaplain for Queen Elizabeth. A Haitian-born woman becoming Governor General in Canada. Caribbean athletes out doing long standing Olympian champions. And now Barack Obama becoming President of the United States of America.
We all know I'm a big fan of technologies and gadgets... so when I read last week in the New York Times that one of the more innovative genetic mapping companies (23andme) had reduced the price of its Genetic Mapping service (which many companies sell for up to $2-3,000) from $999 to only a few hundred dollars, I decided it was an amazing amount of information and education to be able to get access to for that amount, so I took the plunge and signed up.
A day later, FedEx delivered a Spit Kit to my house, which requires about 10 minutes of spitting into and mixing together with a solution, and your DNA sample is ready to send back! And off it went to Los Angeles, California to a laboratory today. Funny enough, the FedEx Pak they provide specifically says "do not send liquids" on it :)
So in 6-8 weeks, I'll know where my ancestors are from, whether I'm genetically lactose intolerant, whether or not I love broccoli because I can't taste the bitterness in it, and whether or not I'm a bit more likely than average to get certain diseases or be susceptible to certain conditions in my lifetime, along with dozens of other interesting facts. For less than the price of a university course in genetics, I can view and learn much of the world's most up-to-date knowledge on the relationships between genes and personal/medical conditions personalized to my specific genetic data. How cool is that?
You can make a case against "messing with your life" this way (I had an interesting discussion about this with someone just the other night), but I think that given the great power we have as humans to be intelligent and understand life in a way that no other species can, we then have a responsibility to use it to maximize the potential of our lives. Right? I guess it's also just a bit of an extra motivation knowing that you're slightly more at risk than average to do something about it! (from 1-2 times more or less likely than the generally population, in most cases)
I'll check back in with the results in a few months!
I headed off in the morning to the Australian Science and Math School, hosted at Flinders University. The school is only a few years old, and is built with an open concept -- no classrooms, but instead a number of large spaces with desks and chairs that reconfigured in many different ways to foster teamwork and collaboration. We had a large group - about 50 teachers and school leaders, and had a really interesting day -- when I showed the "Are you listening?" video, a whole bunch of students gathered upstairs in the area overlooking where I was speaking to watch - I think they were really curious that so many teachers were learning about their way of using technology!
After a fantastic dinner by the water with a group of curriculum developers, I headed to sleep -- because I had to catch a 6:40am flight to Canberra!
I made it to the nation's capital early in the morning, and it was freezing! 0 degrees but it warmed up as the sun rose... I had a few hours to fit the gym and have lunch before heading to Canberra University -- the group in Canberra decided to have an evening workshop (4-9pm) with dinner. Although everyone had a full day of work before showing up, we still had a lot of active participation, and after wrapping up at 9 and getting back to the hotel around 10, it was time for sleep for another 6:45am flight back to Sydney for the last workshop of the trip!
Arriving in Sydney in the morning, with my 32kg on-the-dot bag faithfully appearing on the carousel, I headed off to Parramatta right on time, and arrived 3 minutes before the workshop was to begin! We had the biggest crowd of any session -- around 60 people, and so a lot of the interactive sections took a lot longer than usual, but they had great ideas and a large group of schools approached me after and wants to deeply engage their entire district with TIGed, which is exciting! After wrapping up and chatting with a bunch of the attendees, I was off to one of my favourite hotels in the world -- the Westin Sydney, to relax, enjoy their great gym, and have dinner with Jenny, who had the whole series of workshops organized, to debrief on the experience (yum, Tasmanian lamb!). After that, I met up with Jarra and Nick, and headed to Micky's for dessert (Banana Pancakes and Ice Cream!) to catch up and for me to celebrate the completion of 10 sessions in 11 days in 5 cities!
I'm writing this now on the flight to Vancouver -- I managed to get right to sleep after lunch on the 10am flight, which will hopefully mean I can work through the North American day and head to sleep at a proper time tonight. Saturday, we head to Quebec City for the World Youth Congress to meet TIG members from all over the world. I've also agreed to head to Brisbane on the 19th to speak at the Queenland Government's e-learning summit, and after that, I'll be ready to just settle down at home and enjoy the rest of the summer in Toronto :)
Now that I've been away a full week, I forced myself to carve out some time to reflect on the intensity of the time so far before kicking off the second stretch.
As always, our summers at TakingITGlobal are quite busy -- generally for the education "industry", most conferences are held during the summer when teachers have school holidays. This summer, as a follow-up to my keynote at last October's ACEL (Australian Counsel of Educational Leaders) conference (which was apparently quite good even though I was quite sick at the time), I was invited to be a "Traveling Scholar" for ACEL, presenting 5 full-day workshops on TakingITGlobal to school leaders and teachers across Australia. In addition, I started off the trip by keynoting a leadership conference at Melbourne Grammar School, and today keynoted the International Middle Years conference in Adelaide... so I've made quite good use of two weeks!
Sunday - Wednesday: Melbourne
After the trek from Toronto to Vancouver to Sydney to Melbourne, I knew the first thing I needed to do to keep my sanity was to spend a good amount of time at the fitness center at the Westin. What a great idea - it helped me refresh, have a fantastic swim in the beautiful infinity pool, and after a brief stroll that was quickly canceled when the rain started, I got to sleep at a reasonable hour.
On Monday, I woke up nice and early and arrived at the charming greened campus of Melbourne Grammar, one of Melbourne's oldest and most respected private schools. To their enormous credit, they had invited students from a broad cross-section of Melbourne to attend the conference, in addition to a grade of their students. I was brilliantly introduced by one of their capable students, and my keynote was well-received - with more questions from students than we had time for. Following the keynote, a panel including a futurist, scientist, and Aboriginal leader Patrick Dodson, who cited my presentation several times as they discussed issues of leadership in the 21st century and challenged students to act on the issues they felt challenged by. In the afternoon, I ran several hours of hands-on workshops guiding a small group of students through the TIG site and beginning the Guide to Action as a tool for action planning.
Tuesday morning, I visited Kilsyth, a suburb of Melbourne, and ran a 3 hour workshop with a group of teachers across that region looking at TIG and especially with an interest in Health education... it was a good challenge because we didn't have Internet except for a very slow 2G connection, so I was able to get well prepared and experiment with some activities for the following days' sessions!
That evening, I traveled to Mooney Valley Racecourse (home of Australia's best race - the Cox plate, worth $3 million!) and presented our work at TIG to about 150 principals, who also had some great questions, and I enjoyed meeting a teacher who grew up in Mississauga and had spent his recent years enjoying and exploring Australia's wilderness.
On Wednesday, I spent from 9 AM to 3:30 PM with an enthusiastic group of teachers and principals learning about TIG, exploring global issues, and understanding how to fit our programs and ideas at TIG into the curriculum and everyday use in their classrooms. I also shared our Best Practices on Global Education resource with them... and then I was off to the airport, heading to my next destination: Tasmania!
Thursday - Saturday: Hobart, Tasmania
On Thursday, I woke up and did it all over again, in a beautiful setting amongst Lemon trees at Lateare Gardens in Hobart with a fire burning to keep us all warm and cozy from the cold outside! I think the goals of what we do at TakingITGlobal really connected closely with some people - one teacher was literally in tears sharing how wonderful she thought what we did was... it's really a special opportunity (as exhausting as it is) to be able to share our work with people that are also dedicating their lives to helping young people develop. I think sometimes we all forget the power and opportunity we have to impact the lives of others - and I feel like a few people really felt reconnected to that opportunity, which is really an amazing opportunity to be able to stimulate.
After a short 2 hour break to refresh and do some e-mail, I headed off to the Hobart Yacht club, where I addressed about 50 high school principals, who weren't able to attend the day's workshop because they were having a leadership retreat. I had to pack 90 minutes into a 30 minute before dinner speech, so I think it was overwhelming, but many of them were quite excited by what we do... and I had delicious local Salmon which was a bonus!
The next day was my main day off. I decided not to head off to my next destination right away, but to stick around in Hobart and see some of the beautiful wildlife Tasmania has to offer. So I signed up for a Tasman Island Eco Cruise - having no idea how much of an adventure it would be! After a scenic bus ride to Port Arthur, one of the main convict colonies from the 1800s, we boarded a powerful boat (675 HP) that they describe as a 4x4 of the sea. Initially the ride was quite smooth - and we discovered some caves and amazing rock formations on the coast. The "swells" were only about 1 meter, and so it was just like jumping waves on a boat at home.
However, once we got out to the Tasman Sea, things got a lot more interesting. The waves and the winds were coming strongly from an unusual direction, and 2-3 meter waves and swells gave us quite a ride! I had chosen to sit in the 4th row (moved from the 2nd) and for close to an hour, we jumped waves and it felt like we were on a roller coaster as we plunged down after riding a wave.... but I stuck with my seat - a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
We arrived at two areas with Australian and New Zealand seals, and at a cove where dolphins chased our boat around until we had to leave - amazing to lean over and watch them at the water and bow of the boat jumping up playfully! A number of albatross with their huge wingspans also provided us with an amazing show - watching them fish and gracefully glide across the sky with nothing around us but huge rock and menacing water... or what looked menacing in my book. In 1998, however, the water was so rough that in the annual Sydney-Hobart race, five boats sank and six sailors were killed.
On Saturday morning, before heading to the airport, I spent a few hours enjoying the Salamanca Market, with hundreds of stalls offering delicious local treats and art and coffee and everything needed to pass a few hours and take in the culture of a place!
Sunday - Monday: Adelaide, South Australia
Now I'm here in Adelaide, where this morning I keynoted the International Middle Years of Schooling conference, and was again introduced by a fantastic student duo! I gave out dozens of bookmarks afterwards, with many many people promising to check out the site and connect their students into TIG. I was also followed by an excellent presentation by Professor Erica, who gave a talk on creativity that linked really perfectly and built on top of many of the themes I covered.
Tomorrow I'm off to the Australian Science and Mathematics School to do another day-long workshop, and then heading to Canberra the next morning... I'll be sure to check in soon with more! And I'll be editing this entry in about 2 hours with photos once they upload.
Being fully respectful of August Town Community’s strong desire for peace
Attentive to the need of children for a safe environment in order to receive a proper education and develop their talents
Convinced that tolerance of the beliefs of one another is the road to be followed
Looking forward to the implementation of plans being drafted by the University of the West Indies for August Town to be a University Town
Conscious of our obligations to the wider society and their apprehensions about the high levels of crime in August Town
Believing that the amount of lives lost over the last 15 years due to gang violence has set back the social and economic development of the community.
Eager to reduce the unemployment rate in the community by allowing persons to freely and safely move around or leave the community to seek employment.
We the leaders and representatives of the various corners or sections of August Town, in spite of our differences of various kinds, do hereby formally agree to put an end to all disputes and conflicts for a period of 5 years and we set out the Rules that will govern the conduct of this Agreement.
We enter into this agreement among ourselves and with our signatures as leaders and the signatures of key stakeholders and supporters of peace and development for August Town.
RULES OF THE FIVE-YEAR PEACE AGREEMENT
1. All leaders must be truthful with each other: your word is your word.
2. There is to be free movement of all persons across all boundaries and corners regardless of reputation or affiliation to a particular corner.
3. Guns are not to be brandished – they must not be seen at any time.
4. There must be no intimidation or threat to persons from any corner.
5. No gun salute or any other forms of shooting is to take place in the community for a period of at least 5 years.
6. Corner Leaders have a responsibility to guide and counsel corner members away from domestic violence, theft, extortion, carnal abuse, rape and other wrong doing.
7. Respect and tolerance must be shown for the political beliefs of others.
8. No person should be criticized, abused or labeled as an “informer”.
9. A PEACE COUNCIL with representatives from every corner is to be established and will meet monthly to monitor adherence to these rules and the development and temperature of the community. The Peace Agreement will be reviewed every six months at a meeting of the Council and key stakeholders. It is also expected that the ability of Council members to deal with conflicts will be enhanced by training received in the areas of Mediation, Conflict Resolution, Anger Management etc.
10. If this Agreement is violated, the leaders of the corners involved hereby commit to make good faith efforts to defuse the matter and if such efforts fail an emergency meeting of the Peace Council is to be convened. Where such efforts fail or are unsuccessful, the community agrees to call in the Peace Management Initiative to facilitate their discussion.
We agree to play our part this 24th day of June 2008 at the Mona Bowl August Town, St. Andrew.
Signed By:
…………………….
Name:
Corner: African Gardens (Vietnam)
………………………
Name:
Corner: Jungle 12
……………………
Name:
Corner: Gold Smith Villa (Gola)
……………………….
Name:
Corner: Colour Red (Judgement Yard)
Registro del 1º Encuentro de organizaciones del barrio convocado por el Colectivo Cujuca Retiro
Fecha: 21 de Junio de 2008
Lugar: Comedor Nuestras Derechos
Participantes: 32
• La escuelita: Sebastián; Henry; Luciana
• Circo sobre ruedas: Macarena; Ismael
• Barrios en Juego: Danky; Lucre; Noelia
• Divertidores: Patch
• Consultorio adolescente: Tagrid; Julia
• Taller de títeres: Josefina; Ricardo; Eduardo; Cecilia
• Talleres de sexualidad: Jorge; Ianu
• Patas arriba: Beto
• CAF: Pablo
• Pido Gancho: Rodrigo; Elizabeth; Shampoo; Mariana; Soledad
• Los Invisibles: Damián; Juan Pablo; Emmanuel
• Grupo de Jóvenes: Lucia; Marcos; Violeta; Lucas
• Independiente: Rodrigo
Momentos del encuentro
1º Presentación individual, Nombre y Agrupación
2º Presentación grupal por Collage.
Cada grupo deberá presentar a su agrupación u organización a través de la composición de un Collage, y también expresar si se ven trabajando junto con las demás organizaciones y de que manera.
3º Exposición y explicación de las creaciones (solo la presentación del grupo):
4º Intercambio grupal de ideas y propuestas para trabajar durantes el 2008
Exposición del Collage
Patas Arriba:
Hace muchos años que trabajan en el barrio pero actualmente el grupo esta un poco desarmado. Elige la foto de Charly García como expresión de su situación actual.
La Escuelita:
Trabajan desde la educación popular dando clases de apoyo los domingos desde hace 15 años aprox. Sienten la perdida progresiva de voluntarios que continúen en el proyecto. Buscan que los mismos chicos que reciben apoyo a medida que crecen puedan continuar con la tarea dando apoyo a los más chiquitos. Trabajan con un grupo estable de chicos y con sus familias con quienes buscan construir vínculos habilitadores de otros cambios también. Comenzaron solo con primaria y a medida que los chicos crecieron incluyeron apoyo para secundario. Los chicos mas grandes están participando de un taller de formación de Lideres Recreativos comunitarios y destacan el rico intercambio que se esta dando entre ellos y los profes (no se si son todos profes). Su mayor obstáculo tiene que ver con la falta de un lugar físico estable.
Barrios en Juego:
Equipo formado por Trabajadores sociales, profesores de Educación física y Recreólogos (Impulsado por el Gob. de la Ciudad) que trabaja sobre el derecho al deporte, al juego, buscando construir vínculos comunitarios. Actualmente trabajan con grupos de Abuelos, Niños, Mujeres adultas, participan del proyecto Conciencia futuro y son parte de la Consejería Juvenil formada por jóvenes del barrio.
Consultorio adolescente:
Proyecto en proceso de construcción sustentado en la noción de interdisciplinariedad, busca facilitar la llegada de los adolescentes a la salud pública destinando un consultorio específico para ellos en la salita de salud del barrio. Pretende generar cierta interacción con otros espacios que trabajen con adolescentes a fin de articular el trabajo de cada uno haciendo más simple la llegada de los chicos a dichos espacios y administrando eficazmente los recursos que hay en el barrio. Los chicos pueden pedir turno en la salita cualquier día de la semana por la mañana aunque la atención será los días jueves.
Taller de Títeres:
Grupo formado por Trabajadores sociales. Utilizan el recurso de los títeres como herramienta para pensar y generar el cambio. Trabajan con chicos de todas las edades en el Comedor Los Pichones. Piensan los cambios a nivel macro para luego reproducirlo en pequeños espacios concretos. El placer de trabajar en eso atraviesa todas sus actividades. HAGAN JUEGO SEÑORES
CAF – Bichito de Luz:
Espacio recuperado por las vecinas del barrio. Esta formado por un Jardín maternal, un equipo de asistencia profesional y Talleres de educación no formal para escolares (Fotografía, salud, cortos, madres adolescentes). Utilizan como criterios básicos trabajar sobre las historia de los chicos, de las familias del barrio, aprovechando la inserción territorial que tienen al ser de fácil acceso para todos los habitantes del lugar. Trabajan sobre la educación popular y fundamentalmente utilizando el juego con herramienta.
Talleres de sexualidad:
Proyecto de estudiantes de psicología que busca lograr un acercamiento a la realidad. Realizar talleres en el Colegio Secundario Carlos Mujica (Banderitas) y en el Filli Dei que dieron lugar a generar otro tipo de espacios en el barrio. No buscan funcionar con parche donde el estado no responde.
Circo sobre Ruedas:
El circo como excusa para llegar a diferentes lugares generando redes barriales. Llegaron a Retiro con esa idea y se encontraron con Cujuca que les pareció compatible con su proyecto y se sumaron a trabajar. Buscan articular diversos sectores de la comunidad a través del circo.
Divertidores:
Encuentros de juegos los días sábados en el Playón. Actualmente su mayor obstáculo es la falta de voluntarios que participen.
Grupo de jóvenes:
Trabajo con adolescentes de entre 15 y 18 años.
Los Invisibles:
Realizan apoyo escolar y educación no formal en el barrio.
Pido Gancho:
Recreación en el barrio llevada a cabo por jóvenes capacitados como Lideres Recreativos comunitarios en Puerto Pibes. Actualmente presentaron un proyecto para hacer recreación en hospitales. Su obstáculo se vincula con la disponibilidad de cada integrante.
Rodrigo:
Trabajo durante varios años en el barrio en políticas alimentarías articulando con otros espacios y organizaciones. Actualmente no trabaja formalmente en el barrio pero sigue participando de algunos proyectos.
Debate, propuestas e intercambio de ideas
Conformar una red barrial e institucional involucrándose en distintos espacios
Vincularse más allá del Cujuca, organizar encuentros de juego. Socializar recursos de los grupos del barrio
¿Cómo lograr esos encuentros? ¿Cómo generar vínculos? Es necesario conocernos, saber donde estamos ubicados, difundir las actividades de cada uno de los grupos.
Intercambiar y compartir los recursos con que cada grupo cuenta, intercambiar experiencias, actividades.
Pensar algo en conjunto, no solo intercambio de información. Proyecto en común para trabajar todas las organizaciones.
Construir un proyecto en común con un objetivo que nos permita conocernos en el día a día. Potenciar los espacios y no superponerlos.
Los anteriores construcciones de red barrial en Retiro no funcionaron por lo macro de las propuestas. Articulación de objetivos concretos
Armar una cartelera común para difundir todas las actividades.
Tarea:
Cada grupo realizara un resumen donde incluya Actividades que realiza, días, horarios, lugar, Teléfono de contacto, Referente, recursos que necesitan y recursos que pueden ofrecer, actividades que querrían realizar.
I'm speaking tomorrow at PUSH, an interesting conference here in Minneapolis, MN
The first session that just wrapped up was quite interesting - Chandran Nair took us through a look at the world's problems and how many misconceptions there are about what can solve them. What I found striking was the comparison of world problems to spending on trivial/much less meaningful things:
Health & Nutrition ($13B) : Petfood Spending in the USA ($17B)
Water and Sanitation ($9B) : Ice Cream in Europe ($11B)
Education ($6B) : Cosmetics in the USA ($8B)
Jonathan Greenblatt, one of the co-founders of Ethos Water, also gave us a compelling look into the world of Water and how simple and cheap ($25/person) it is to solve. The one thing I don't get - on a $1.79 bottle of water, Starbucks (which acquired Ethos) donates 5 cents (10 cents in Canada oddly). They were founded on the basis of donating 50% of profits... I can't believe profit on that bottle of water is only 10 cents! (considering how much cheaper other bottled water is). Anyway, he now works with a new magazine - GOOD - which has a unique subscription model of giving away the $20 subscription fee to a charity of your choice.
Problems facing the world, as a Nigerian born, I will like to share my experience in dealing with problem in nigeria facing the world, Are All Nigerians Criminals?, Are All Criminals Nigerians? there are good people and bad people everywhere in the world, 500 years agos europeens travel down to african to search for goods in solving problem facing the europeen continent, In 1970s 1 US dollar = 90kobo not up to 1 naira. if the europeen immigrants as 500 years past was treated as how the present african immigrant in europe where treated as of today i will assure you that europe will never be as of today, I also want to remind you that those europeen travel then as 500 years agos travel without visa, they were welcome and give all what they need and things were goes on well the way they plan it that is why they were suceed. As of today I will like to imform the Nigeria govenment to try and check themself verywell. All europeen embassy and American embassy in Nigeria rechecked your contract likewise nigerian embassy in europe and america. United nations how many years will takes us in soving the same problem when problem is made by you. a normal humanbeign living in a well develop country find himself/herself have no right in anything, work, house, talk and so on, the person have already made to be criminal by the Law of that nation. A country like nigeria depend on Oil. which as at many years back; Nigeria oil have to be Refining outside the country before it used buying and re-selling. I will like to inform the world that Nigeria contribute a lot in improvement in any developed country of today but nigerians where paid back with nothing just distruction. Many Nigerians that charge for any criminal offence where made like that. There is a trap made for people who live in a world that the difficult aspect of Law were made for them, seek for right to live, seek for right to work and even seek for right to sleep with your wife/man, seek for right to talk, slavering you till you will commit a crime and the crime will charge against you and send you to prison in dimage your life and the image of your country. What friends does a Lion do with Dog. All favoring doors are closed but the unfavor is open for you. try to be wise and never enter those trap.
How can this not inspire you with hope that the messages that captivate our friends in the U.S. voting this fall can be positive and not just negative? Messages that excite with the possibility of a positive future, not try to cast fear and uncertainty as the reason to select a person.
I'm very proud of them for ending the video with the simple message of "vote" - resisting the urge to squeeze it beyond need towards the candidate.
My apologies for this very geek-specific post. If you don't have a Dell m1330 laptop, you can ignore it!
My Dell XPS m1330 is my favorite laptop yet (I think it's my 10th in 10 years!), but Dell and Microsoft have made it far too hard to re-format it cleanly without Windows Vista Blue-screening on every second boot (caused by the AHCI setting in BIOS, but not providing AHCI drivers during install). It took me awhile to figure out how to do this properly, so I thought I'd share to help the rest of the Internet figure it out.
2) Run the file with a "-a" from the Windows commandline, which will put those files into the "C:Program FilesIntelIntel Matrix Storage Manager" directory
3) Copy the files from the "Drivers" or "Drivers64" (64-bit Vista) directory onto a USB Key
4) When you install Vista from the DVD, pick the "Custom" option, then click "Load Drivers"
5) Click "Browse", and point to your USB stick. Load the drivers from it.
أكبر و أنا عند أمي صغير، وأشيب وأنا لديها طفل، هي الوحيدة التي نزفت من أجلي دموعها ولبنها و دمها، نسيني الناس اٍلا أمي، عقني الكل اٍلا أمي، تغير علي العالم اٍلا أمي، الله يا أمي: كم غسلت خدودك بالدموع حينما سافرت، و كم عفت المنام يوم غبت، وكم ودعت الرقاد يوم مرضت، الله يا أمي: اٍذا جئت من السفر وقفت بالباب تنظرين والعيون تدمع فرحا، و اٍذا خرجت من البيت وقفت تودعينني بقلب يقطر أسى، الله يا أمي: حملتيني بين الضلوع أيام الآلام و الأوجاع، ووضعتيني مع آهاتك وزفراتك، وضممتيني بقبلاتك وبسماتك، الله يا أمي: لا تنامين أبدا حتى يزور النوم جفني، و لا ترتاحين أبدا حتى يحل السرور علي، اٍذا ابتسمت ضحكت و لا تدرين ما السبب، و اٍذا تكدرت بكيت و لاتعلمين ما الخبر، تعذرينني قبل أن أخطىء، وتعفين عني قبل أن أتوب، وتسامحينني قبل أن أعتذر، الله يا أمي: من مدحني صدقتيه ولو جعلني اٍمام الأنام و بدر التمام، ومن ذمني كذبتيه ولو شهد له العدول و زكاه الثقات، أبدا أنت الوحيدة المشغولة بأمري، و أنت الفريدة المهمومة بي، الله يا أمي: أنا قضيتك الكبرى، وقصتك الجميلة، وأمنيتك العذبة، تحسنين اٍلي و تعتذرين من التقصير، وتذوبين علي شوقا وتريدين المزيد، يا أمي: ليتني أغسل بدموع الوفاء قدميك، وأحمل في مهرجان الحياة نعليك، يا أمي: ليت الموت يتخطاك اٍلي، وليت البأس اٍذا قصدك يقع علي:
نفسي تحدثني بأنك متلفي روحي فداك عرفت أم لم تعرف
رب اغفر لوالدي وارحمهما كما ربياني صغيرا...............
من كتاب "أسعد امرأة في العالم" للدكتور عائض القرني
Since 2006, The Ministries of Education Technology through the e-Learning Project has been promoting the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the classroom as tool to enhance the learning experience for students and improve their grades.
Through initiatives of the Government several Jamaicans now have access to a computer with internet facilities. Companies like Cable & Wireless and Flow has donated computers and/or given free internet access to schools, community clubs, organisations and cyber centres as well.
Obviously we have recognised the advantages the computer and Internet can have on the productivity of our society. More specifically, the Internet is a great tool to enhance our students learning through online communication and research. However, the Internet can be a very dangerous place for our children as they are vulnerable to identity theft and Internet fraud, cyberbullying, trojans and viruses, spywares, and spams.
Late in 2007 I conducted a non-scientific survey with some Jamaicans to glean how much they know about Internet safety and security. I was alarmed to glean that so many of us know little or nothing about these potential dangers that exist on the web.
Many Jamaicans are already victims of Internet fraud. In fact like many children, I have been conned by foreigners, Nigerians especially soliciting help to retrieve a lump sum of money that a dead relative left. Funny enough, I have even won the lotto on several occassions.
With each Jamaican owing US$7,920 I could have paid for my entire family more thank three times. Surely, we all could have relieved Jamaica's debt burden if these were true.
It's only a matter of time before we hear that several cases of rape and abduction have been made possible by social networking websites such as Hi5, Facebook and MySpace.
At present little or nothing is been done by the Government or Private Sector to raise awareness about the dangers which exist so young people can use the Internet more responsibly. I am delighted that the focus of the 2008/2009 budget is youth. However, the revitalisation of youth clubs, and uniformed groups is not the only thing needed to safeguard the future for youth. A cut of the budget must be used for proactive approaches, rather than continuing our reactive and shortsighted tendencies all the time.
In lieu of this, I recommend that out of the budget expenditure a new unit be established in either Ministries charged with the responsibility of developing promotional materials and planning seminars, conferences and other initiatives to sensitise Jamaicans (youth especially) about the dangers that exist and how they can protect themselves.
I am,
Jaevion Nelson
Chairman, Caribbean Youth Summit Association (CYSA)
Early sex is certianly not a new fad and children are fully aware of that. In fact many of us are products of teenage mothers or parents who were in a sexual relationship in high school.
Quite recently, a number of sex clips have been surfacing the internet. Every parent must be living in fear, wondering when they will hear or perhaps see their child on ‘de tape’. In fact I am sure my mother prays everyday that my little sister is not having sex and certinaly wont be one of the rising stars. I was far from shocked to learn that video of a girl performing oral sex at my alma mater surfaced or rather was leaked to the Principal.
Not too long ago Betty-Ann Blaine in discussion with a caller on her daytime programme ‘On the Agenda’ about this high school students hobby recording sexual scenes deemed these explicit acts abominable, unacceptable, and unjust in the sight of God.
But do teenagers really care what any of us think? Of course not! When I expressed my shock with one teenager from a school in Manchester who sent me some clips he was quick to let me know that the technology has only made these occurrences more blatant. He highlighted that we were all having sex and we must stop pretending.
Does this mean that if we begin to approach our high school problems with more ‘livity’ as we may call it - our policies and intervention programs might begin to have more purpose? Perhaps we will never know.
We are all so quick to attack these students for enjoying themselves to the point that we stigmatise them, but none of us have taken responsibility of lynching the media for sensationalising these incidences.
The media have a major role to play in society and a responsibility to the public. But we have all become so profit focussed that even the best of us with National Honours and respect have lost focus. Now can we really blame these children? Think about it.
In all the articles I have read sorrounding these happenings not once I have I seen a call for students to use a condom, talk to a responsible adult or peer about what they are doing or even to speak with a teenager and find out why all this really happens. And to make an even more bigger impact charge the relevant stakeholders to look into the issue differently.
Now who are we to blame? Let’s point fingers on the media, the education ministry, guidance counsellors, parents, churches, businesses, and schools. I say let’s blame the damn society! Who makes it up? All of us.
Why are we all so important to this process of so called communication and behaviour change modification? What should we really do? Sit and continue to curse students who hav sex? Tell them that sex is something that should be of value between two - when so much of us sleep around? Com’on let’s be real for once!
I agree that the issue of students having sex at school or at home is one that must be taken seriously, but certainly not the way in which we have been going about it over the years.
Let’s talk about sex now! And I say do it before it’s too late. Before we even try to educate children about all these fears we have why they shouldnt have sex - we must tell them about it. Young people need as much information about sex and sexuality from an early age so they can begin to make more informed decisions.
Really, why are Jamaicans so afraid to talk about sex and sexuality? Why cant we be open about it? Yes it is a private activity - so what? I am sure morals and the Bible permits discourse on the matter and even if it didnt you wouldnt automatically be banished to hell. So my friends, there is no need for us to go back to the days of telling our children that mommy has a tomato (instead of saying vagina) and daddy has a plantain (why not penis?).
Do you realise how silly we are? As Nadia Howe, CEO at the May Pen Hospital expressed to me in a conversation recently - it makes no sense for us to tell young people not to do this and that and not speak to them openly.
One student from a prominent all girls school in Montego Bay also shared with me that “it doesnt really matter how much abstinence is preached it all boils down to personal choice.”
So how can we influence personal choice? Tell them about sex or shove things under the carpet? According to Andrew Francis, Convenor of the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN) “thats the only way they (young people) can make informed choices about such when they are given the necessary information.”
Francis highlighted that information sharing is important to influencing personal choice because “curiousity and adventure may lead them to get involved in high risk sexuality activity even without information about sex, sexuality, benefits of delaying sexual activity or protecting one’s self in the case that you cannot abstain.”
After the trek from Toronto to Vancouver to Sydney to Melbourne, I knew the first thing I needed to do to keep my sanity was to spend a good amount of time at the fitness center at the Westin. What a great idea - it helped me refresh, have a fantastic swim in the beautiful infinity pool, and after a brief stroll that was quickly canceled when the rain started, I got to sleep at a reasonable hour.
On Thursday, I woke up and did it all over again, in a beautiful setting amongst Lemon trees at Lateare Gardens in Hobart with a fire burning to keep us all warm and cozy from the cold outside! I think the goals of what we do at TakingITGlobal really connected closely with some people - one teacher was literally in tears sharing how wonderful she thought what we did was... it's really a special opportunity (as exhausting as it is) to be able to share our work with people that are also dedicating their lives to helping young people develop. I think sometimes we all forget the power and opportunity we have to impact the lives of others - and I feel like a few people really felt reconnected to that opportunity, which is really an amazing opportunity to be able to stimulate.
